THE PROBLEM ON DIVORCE

Twenty – Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gn 2: 18 – 24/ Ps 128/ Heb 2: 9 – 11/ Mk 10: 2 – 16

In 2009, figures show that nineteen Filipino women were victims of marital violence every day. Among the different forms of violence against women, battering of wives ranked the highest according to the Philippine National Police. Three out of ten perpetrators of women violence were the husbands of the victims themselves. Unfortunately, I was not able to get the figures on men as victims of marital violence. In the end, these figures would easily lead us to think of an easy way out – divorce!

Divorce was also an issue during the time of Jesus. The Pharisees in order to get Jesus to admit that he was contradicting the Great Moses raised the concern on divorce. However, Jesus’ answer highlighted the centrality on the law of God rather than the dispensation from the law which Moses was forced to enact “because of the hardness of the people’s hearts.”

And this law of God on marriage finds its foundation in our first reading today from the book of Genesis. Right from the start, we realize that marriage is not only monogamous but also a life-long relationship between a man and a woman. “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

Given this foundational truth on marriage as monogamous and a life-long relationship, we also cannot deny the truth that indeed along the life-long journey between a husband and wife, trials, problems and difficulty exist.

And our second reading today gives us an inspiration to hold on to our family life because even Jesus who was God “for a little while was made lower than the angels.” Jesus too along his earthly journey experienced his own share of trials, problems and difficulty. And this is what Pope Francis meant when he said, “Families have the difficulties. Families, we quarrel, and sometimes plates can fly. And children bring headaches — I won't speak about mother in laws. But in families there is always light, because the love of God, and son of God, opened also that path for us."

Thus we realize that when family problems and marital conflicts come in the family, divorce is never ever a solution. The solution is found in our holding on to Jesus. In our case as Catholic Christians, families must hold on to Jesus in the Eucharist because the Eucharist builds the family.

A true story is told of a deacon who noticed in his parish that a certain family does not go to Mass together except every first Sunday of the month. And so, finally, he decided to ask the father about the family’s situation. The father humbly replied, “Rev., every first Sunday, we, 6 in the family, go together for Mass. However, our monthly income cannot suffice to pay for the habal-habal ride. Thus we decided as a family that on the second Sunday, it will be me and my two sons who will go to Mass. On the third, it will be the turn of my wife and my two daughters. And on the fourth, it will be me and my wife who will go to Mass.” For us who are living near the parishes, failure to attend the Sunday Mass is a mortal sin. But for that poor family, it is sacrifice.

This is therefore our challenge today that in order to prevent divorce in the family, we must not divorce ourselves from the Eucharist. In order to endure the many trials and hardships which family life has given to us, we must hold on to Jesus in the Eucharist.

Come to think of this: If we can spend hours watching Pangako Sa’Yo and On the Wings of Love; if we can spend hours watching Heneral Luna or Etiquette for Mistresses, why can’t we spend an hour weekly with the Lord in the Eucharist as a couple, as a family? Amen!

The above photo is the official logo of the recently concluded 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, USA